<< Books/Products >> Book Review: Astronomy and Measurement in Megalithic Architecture
Submitted by runemage on Sunday, 31 January 2016 Page Views: 3886
Reviews
Over 40 years observing and re-observing the ancient sites and the heavens have gone into this book, travelling to areas of Brittany and Ireland as well as around Britain, to sites where there are large concentrations of megaliths, their patient and intensive research has taken place.
They did not plod blindly on, but invited professionals and experienced critics to comment on their findings. This small book details the culmination of their research, which is that “the megalithic designers used a standard length of 14.142 inches / 35.92 cms in order to incorporate key astronomical data into the structure” They have called this unit of measurement the Megalithic Foot, referred to as MF.
I do struggle with number theories, so if I can understand this theory, anyone can. The moon’s 18.6 year cycle is only recently beginning to feature in conventional observations of ancient sites. There are some pretty impressive figures on page 7 indicating that the length of several long barrows can be shown to relate to that cycle as they are ‘so many’ times the length of the megalithic foot.
More persuasive data is added, Professor Thom’s megalithic yard measurements are then converted into MF and only when using the MF, there appears to be a strong correlation with astronomical events.
The authors have also taken care not to cherry pick measurements to confirm their theory, rather they are presenting their findings and asking the reader to make up their own mind. This is very well explained when dealing with sites which have evolved and changed over long periods of time.
On page 23, they offer a new interpretation for one of the functions of outliers which makes a lot of sense alongside their theory.
The only thing I found difficult to understand – and considering my own mathematical incomprehension, that’s testament to how well the theory is explained - was how they believe the ancients could understand the decimal system as well as fractions.
The authors are at pains to point out that they never made the sites fit their expectations, everything was measured accurately and only then was the MF applied to see if it was a fit. Once it was beyond the possibility of coincidence, they knew they had made a discovery and believe that the builders of the ancient stone monuments used the MF and “were aware of the value of pi and had an awareness of the Metonic cycle many years before any alleged discovery by the Greeks”
This is a little book, packed with information, it holds a massive amount of research condensed into a tiny space. It’s well written and presented in a way that’s easy to understand and it offers a new perspective about ancient sites.
Review by Runemage
Published by Northern Earth Books, 201547 pages
Available from Northern Earth Books £4.75 post-free in the UK
+£2 for the rest of Europe or £4 for the rest of the world
or Amazon.co.uk
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